Crushed Flowers
by Mist188
Summary: A Cloud/Tifa fic! Sorry Aeris/Cloud fans! Starts out angsty, ends SLIGHTLY fluffy! Tifa takes a walk to Nibelheim to pay a tribute to someone she didn't want to sweep her off her feet.


Disclaimer: I don't own FFIIV for those of you who are stupid enough to wonder. I'll never let those slimy, ugly, cold people sue me! NEVER!! Oh…I was talking about lawyers. Hehehe!  
  
  
  
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A woman walked down the dirt road that leaded her, in her opinion, to nothingness. Her long chocolate brown hair accented her empty ruby eyes. Her pale skin was a mirror to her feelings. The icicles on the now dead trees glinted sadly in the poor sun, fighting with dark clouds for control of the sky.  
  
"You can't win." She murmured as she swiped a solitary tear finding its trail on her pale, lost cheek.  
  
There it was. A desolate, barren place that had ripped many scars into her already torn heart. A supposed place that found its way out of sadness and had caused love to bloom. A place she had herself once called home.  
  
He had called it his home too. At least, for a while. His intense sapphire orbs had locked themselves in their own private room inside of her dead mind. His golden hair gone forever from her reach.  
  
The town had no one around, empty of laughter and cheer. Everyone was locked up in their cold houses, no emotions shown. The wind blew harshly, whispering it's cruel words in her lifeless ear. You're not wanted here. This is not your home.  
  
A scream rang through her mind as her wounded heart twisted with uncomfortable pain. What did it mean? Why was she not welcome? It seemed to her that it was one reason and one reason alone.  
  
Herself.  
  
What did I do? Where did I go wrong? Was it me who caused this? Or is this just another cruel joke against the "perfect" Tifa Lockhart? Maybe. Maybe not.  
  
She walked towards the center of the small town, her mixed emotions waking, but locked away from a human touch. It was funny what six years could do to person. It was even funnier how he had bewitched into thinking she was actually something.  
  
It was funny, in a cruel sort of way.  
  
She passed a familiar place, a park she had once loved. It had been a place of happiness, a place where she was allowed to be innocent. It was now a sorry excuse for even a ruin. A swing creaked sadly, pushed by the invisible wind.  
  
Another drop of pain found its way onto her face.  
  
She walked angrily away; he had pushed her on that swing. Nobody knew but her. He had forgotten long ago. Go figure.  
  
She had reached the place where her pain welled into a drowning dark ocean, a torrent of hurt rushing though her veins, killing any emotion with a burning sensation of death.  
  
She clutched tightly to the dead flower in her hand, it's sky blue petals faded away, like her life. Its weak stem was a frightening shade of brown.  
  
A memory fought its way into her mind, even though she struggled with her might to shut it in the room with the unforgettable eyes. She failed miserably as it played its painful thought.  
  
* * *  
  
The moon was shining down; with no lose of light at all. The mood was just right, but nothing she had ever seen before. As she gazed at the stars, her eyes had welled up with tears.  
  
Cloud and Tifa had gone back to Nibelheim, trying to sort out their feeling for each other and themselves. Yeah, what feelings, she thought to herself.  
  
She sat at the place of the old well, which had stood in the middle of the town, but long gone it was.  
  
"Tifa?"  
  
A man with blonde hair and eyes that had her under a wicked spell now sat beside her, pain swimming in the wells of his eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"For what?" she asked sorrowfully.  
  
"For me leaving. I know you love me, but I just can't love you like that right now. Not with…" he replied, leaving the sentence without an ending.  
  
"Not with the thought of Aeris." She completed bitterly.  
  
"Yeah, but Tifa, I'll be back. I promise I will. When I am, I'll be here to sweep you of your feet." He said gazing at her in the moonlight.  
  
"No you won't," she said as she stood up and walked away.  
  
Cloud yelled her name in despair. She whirled around and Cloud could feel her pained gaze on him. He shifted uncomfortably.  
  
"You won't be back, I know. You made a promise uncertainly, many years ago, at this very spot, when we were young and stupid," she screamed, "Therefore, I release you from your promise. I don't want your promises anymore."  
  
"But, Tifa…"  
  
"No, Cloud, don't. Just don't. I won't be here for you to sweep of my feet. If you want to do that when you realize she's gone, you'll have to come find me," she whispered, "and then you can sweep me off my feet."  
  
Cloud wrapped his arms around her as she started to sob. He kissed her gently on her lips, making her melt into his arms.  
  
When they came up for air, Tifa's pale finger slid along his lips. Her eyes shined with wonder, even mischief. She then pulled away and turned her back on him.  
  
"A stolen kiss has come too late." She whispered sadly as she walked away.  
  
* * *  
  
He had never come to find her, she thought. She gripped the dead flower in her fist tightly as she arrived at the spot where she had walked away.  
  
She got down on her knees. She laid the dead flower where they had stood in each other's embrace. She then got up and brushed the lifeless dirt of her skirt.  
  
"Tifa?"  
  
She whirled around to see the man who had haunted her thoughts for six years, staring at her intently. His gaze wavered when he saw the flower though.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"Oh, let me guess," Tifa asked bitterly, "You're married, you have two kids, you live in Kalm, you have the perfect life, and you just came here to laugh at a lost memory, you-"  
  
The man slid his hands around her waist, and kissed her gently on her forehead.  
  
"No, I came here to sweep you of your feet, like I promised." He added.  
  
Tifa smiled as she laid her head down on his chest as he stroked her hair. They stood like that for what seemed like an eternity, what was in truth, only a few minutes.  
  
"Cloud?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Can I ask you something?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Can I have your promises back?"  
  
She was answered by a passionate kiss, the type that swept a girl off her feet and left her feeling dizzy afterward. It continued a long time, both inhaling each other's scent deeply. They broke apart eventually, both gasping for the much needed air.  
  
"Tifa?"  
  
"Yes, Cloud?"  
  
"You remember that swing?"  
  
"Yes, what about it?"  
  
"I feel like you need a swing." He replied thoughtfully.  
  
'But who's gonna push me?" she asked teasingly  
  
He smiled. He would play her game, for now.  
  
"I'd kill to do it."  
  
"Okay."  
  
And as they walked away, the harsh wind blew away a flower, with faded sky blue petals and a stem of a frighting brown. Then it died down, and it did not blow again.  
  
* * *  
  
FireLily here! Please review, I would like it a lot! 


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